This may be the edition of Public Management magazine that I look forward to most each year. It’s time for us to celebrate our members and connect one another with best practices being recognized in local communities through ICMA’s Local Government Excellence Awards.

The professional awards focus on individual career accomplishments—leadership, contributions to the profession, etc.—and our program awards focus on innovative initiatives or processes that benefit the community.

Learning about our professional awards—and the prominent figures they are named for—involves a little walk through ICMA history, from legendary city manager L.P. Cookingham to our very own ethics champion, Martha Perego. I hope members will appreciate the standard set by the individuals we remember with these awards. There is a high bar established for people to be eligible for these awards and receive an honor named for some of the true icons of our profession. This year’s awardees are very deserving professionals.

As you move to the program awards, you will learn about best practices in community equity and inclusion, health and safety, community partnership, sustainability, and strategic leadership and governance. These programs are building blocks of great communities and knowing how communities of all sizes are setting the standard in these areas creates opportunities to learn and innovate in your individual context.

Early in my own career I received the Assistant Leadership Award in Memory of Buford M. Watson Jr., and it meant a lot to me because I knew Buford. He was city manager of Lawrence, Kansas, when I was a graduate student at the University of Kansas, and he was serving as president of ICMA that same year. 

In 1989, his untimely death at the age of 59 was a shock to our entire profession. Six months later, the city of Lawrence renamed their own Central Park in his honor. It became Watson Park, a fitting tribute to the impact he had on the city. (Not a lot of communities name parks after city managers.) And whenever I return to Lawrence, passing by the park is a reminder of the impact he had on me personally. Buford’s son Mark and grandson Kevin have both been active and engaged ICMA members as well, and I’m proud that we have an award in memory of their father/grandfather.

Awards can connect what is “best” about our past to what is “best” about today, and I appreciate that connection. The standards set by the people and programs being recognized in 2025 set a new standard for us to strive for in the future. I hope you are inspired, and I hope that you consider how your own contributions are shaping your community, your organization, and your profession. Each of us has the potential to make a positive and lasting contribution. It’s a reminder of the importance of the work we do.

Thanks for taking the time to read about your remarkable colleagues and the communities being honored. I can’t wait to see them walk across the stage in Tampa!

Access the October issue here.

JULIA D. NOVAK, ICMA-CM, is executive director of ICMA.